Spring toy



E. M GREUBEL El AL SPRING TOY Filed May 11, 1955 Nov. 26, 1957 2,814,155

United States Patent SPRING TOY Elaine M. Greubel and Earl 0. Greubel, In, Grosse lle, Mich.

Application March 11, 1955, Serial No. 493,755

1 Claim. (Cl. 46-1) This invention relates to a toy, and, more particularly, to a toy adapted for use as an amusement device, or for therapeutic, relaxation, advertising, or political purposes.

It is the primary object of this invention to provide a spring toy which comprises a pair of helical springs which are interlocked with each other so that when one spring is compressed, the other spring is expanded, and, each spring can be alternately expanded and compressed by easy manipulation thereof by the fingers of the user.

It is another object of this invention to provide a toy comprising a first helical spring coil and a second helical spring coil, with the turns of the first coil passing through the turns of the second coil, whereby, said second coil is held in a compressed condition and said first coil is held in an expanded condition, and, the relative positions of each coil may be changed by manually compressing the first coil so as to permit the second coil to expand.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a spring toy which may be used for amusement of children, as well as being used for adults to release nervous tension while speaking and the like.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a spring device which may be used for therapeutic purposes, as for example strengthening the muscles of the fingers or to regain the use of the fingers of the user by manipulating this device.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a spring device which may be used as a novelty for advertising purposes, to advertise either a certain product or a political candidate, and the like.

It is another object of this invention to provide a toy for children which is educating as well as amusing.

It is another object of this invention to provide a spring toy which is simple in construction, economical of manufacture and adapted for many purposes.

Other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description and appended claim, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of the specification wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts of the several views.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of an illustrative embodiment of the invention, showing the forefinger and thumb of the user in a position ready for operation of the toy;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to that of Fig. 1, showing the toy in an intermediate stage of operation;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to that of Fig. 1, showing the toy in a position after operation thereof;

Fig. 4 is an elevational view of an embodiment of the invention showing educational indicia on one of the coils;

Fig. 5 is an elevational view of the structure shown in Fig. 4, but with the coil positions reversed to show educational indicia on theother coil;

Fig. 6 is an elevational view similar to that of Fig. 4, showing an embodiment of the invention provided with advertising data; and,

Fig. 7 is an elevational view similar to Fig. 5, showing the embodiment of Fig. 6 reversed to show the advertising data on the second coil.

Before explaining in detail the present invention, it is to be understood, that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood, that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not limitation.

In the drawing, an illustrative embodiment is shown, and comprises, a helical spring coil 2 and a second helical spring coil 4. It will be seen, that the turns of one coil are formed so as to pass through the turns of the other coil. The coils 2 and 4 may be made from any suitable spring wire. The size of these coils and number of turns in each coil will depend on the desires of the user and the use to which the toy is to be put. It is desirable, however, to make the coils 2 and 4 with the same number of turns. A workable number of turns for a coil having a diameter of approximately one-quarter of an inch would be at least 14, although more or less may be used. The coils 2 and 4 may also be made from a suitable plastic material or the like.

As shown in Fig. 1, the spring coil 2 is under compression and is held in such condition or position by means of the coil 4 which is in an extended or expanded condition with its turns passing through the center of the coil 2. It will be obvious, that the coil 4, as shown in Fig. 1, is under some compression along the side passing through the coil 2, and under some tension along the side disposed away from the coil 2.

In order to reverse the positions of coils 2 and 4, the user would place his forefinger 6 and thumb 8 on the outer sides of the coil 4 and exert a pressure on each end of the coil 4 along the directions of the arrows 10 and 12. As the pressure is increased, the coil 4 will be compressed and the coil 2 will be released or expanded, and such action is shown in Fig. 2. At an intermediate point of operation, such as shown in Fig. 2, the pent-up energy in coil 2 will suddenly be released and will complete the compression of the coil 4, and the coils will assume a reversed position as shown in Fig. 3. The spring coils 2 and 4 may then be returned to the relationship shown in Fig. 1, by repeating the aforedescribed action, that is, by manually compressing coil 2 to the point where the compressed coil 4 suddenly expands and compresses coil 2. This reversing of the positions of coils 2 and 4 may be repeated indefinitely.

The instant spring toy may be used for amusement purposes for children and grown-ups, and, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, may also be used for educational purposes. For example, as shown in Fig. 4, one of the coils, as 14, may have mathematical problems marked on the compressed coil, by any suitable means, as 2 plus 2, and, the solution to the problem would be marked on the other coil, as 16, and would appear when the coil positions were reversed as shown in Fig. 5. In Fig. 5, the coil 16 would show the figure 4.

Figs. 6 and 7 illustrate how the invention can be used for advertising purposes along with amusement purposes. As shown in Fig. 6, one of the coils, as 18, could have printing thereon which would show up when the coil is compressed, as the word drink, and, the other coil, as 20, could have words marked thereon, as Ioes Pop, which would appear when the coil 20 is compressed, as shown in Fig. 7. It will be obvious, that political signs, as vote for on one coil, and the persons name on the other coil, could also be marked on the coils.

It will be seen from the above description, that I have 3 a provided a novel and improved spring toy which is adapted for many uses and which is simple and easy to manufacture.

While it will be apparent that the preferred embodiment of the invention herein disclosed is well calculated 'to fulfill the objects above stated, it will be appreciated of said coils being interlocked with the other coil in such manner as to hold the turns of the other coil in a compressed condition, said one coil having its turns in a compressed condition on their inner sides and in an expanded condition on their outer sides, and said coils being so arranged that lengthwise pressure on said one coil at the outer side thereof will move the outer sides of the coil turns into contacting condition and permit expansion of the turns of the other coil at their outer sides and reverse the initial relationship of the two coils.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

